Coming of age draft 5

  It was the summer of 1999 and I was 7 years old. My parents decided to send me to learn how to swim. I was terrified by this news. I was afraid for girl, and a typical 7-year-old girl doesn’t go to a intense swimming class. My dad is a very stubborn person in some ways, like this time. He thought having this skill would be very beneficial to me later in my life (which turns out to be right), so I became the smallest in that swimming class.

  It has been more than 10 years since that day, but I still remember the swimming room. It was really big and loud. When I entered it with my parents, no one noticed us. I was like a tiny dot in this giant world. Then I met my trainer. He is tall, muscular man with tan skin. He smiled to me and asked my name. I whispered my name because I was so nervous. He smiled to me again and said, “ welcome to the swimming class.”

  Then my parents left after encouraging me to try my best in this class and telling me that they have faith in me. I almost cried when I saw their back when they were leaving. It felt like I need to fight by myself in this world from now on.

   The first class officially began. We began to learn how to hold breath under the water. The trainer said what we need to do is just close your eyes and hold your breath. The moment my head went down into the water, the whole world was silent. I couldn’t even hear my heartbeat. It was amazing.  I did it, my first challenge.

  The next day is real swimming class. We started with how to float on the water. It wasn’t hard so I got it very quickly. Then we learned our first way of swimming, free style, which becomes my favorite style of swimming later.  I still remember the trainer told us to relax our body, the most important point of free style is the coordination of the body and the arms. It was really hard for me in the beginnings since I was too small to swim and know what is coordination.  But then I learned that nothing is impossible if you really tried. After I finish a loop, I heard the clap from the trainer and some other students. I couldn’t believe I did that. 

  Everything became easier after this class. We learned different other types of swimming later including breaststroke and backstroke. I pick both of them up fairly quickly.  I realized that I really enjoy those classes and the proud is built up everyday. Life is like this, when you are good at something, then you have confidence at this thing, then you will work harder to succeed in this area because you want to keep that proud. That was exactly how I felt that time. I learnt how to swim.

  The final challenge finally came. It was the final exam of this swimming class, indicating you pass this class and you learned how to swim.  My parents had no idea how much progress I made since the class started, so they were really excited to see my final exam. The test was really simple, you invited your family to come, and your trainer will tell you which two styles you are going to show, then you do each of them for one loop.  I was really nervous on my way because I wanted to show my parents the best I can do. I was even worried about what happened if I forgot how to hold breath. All those scattered thoughts came together, which made me really nervous.

  “ Free style and backstroke!” my trainer said.

  I was really happy to hear that because those two were my favorite styles.

  “ Start!!!!”

  I held a deep breath and jumped into the water. The world became silent again just like the first time I jumped into the water. Don’t be nervous, I can do it.  I told myself.

   I began to recall everything the trainer told me before. It went really hard since I was really tired when it went half way. I knew I shouldn’t give up but my body told me to stop. I was really small that time and all I think is what I should do and should not do. Giving up at that time is a “ should not do”. So I did it. I finish two loops without rest at the age of 7.

  When my head got out of the water, I can see my parents and the trainer showed their thumb to me and smiled at me. At that time, it was the first time I knew what it is meant by success.

  Life is full of successes. Everything becomes simple when you reach that point and every single effort you put in becomes meaningful. In my memory, this was the first success I had that I can clearly remember. Don’t worry about how hard the climb is if you see those encouraging eyes from the people you love.